Improving the security and efficiency of wireless networks through Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain thanks to NANCY, a Horizon Europe project whose partners include the TeCIP Institute of the Sant'Anna School

Many things have changed since the first generation of wireless cellular technology was introduced in the 1980s. Today 5G has arrived, promising superfast, low-latency transmission capabilities for thousands of machines that can "talk" to each other at the same time. However, the transition to next-generation computing networks poses a security risk with few solutions currently available.

NANCY (An Artificial Intelligent Aided Unified Network for Secure Beyond 5G Long Term Evolution), a project starting in January 2023 funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, aims to change this by developing a revolutionary, secure and intelligent architecture to improve the security and efficiency of next-generation wireless networks. The implementation aims to use Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies to increase security, improve data management technologies and develop new solutions to increase efficiency, communication as well as resource allocation and management.

One of the first meetings of the project, which involves 22 organizations under the coordination of the University of West Macedonia, has recently concluded in Pisa. Among the partners is the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, with the Institute of Telecommunications, Computer Engineering, and Photonics Institute (TeCIP), under the scientific responsibility of Alessandro Biondi, associate professor of Computer Engineering in the Cyber-Physical Systems Area (RETIS Lab) of the TeCIP Institute, with the aim of researching and developing new techniques for the secure and predictable management of the software components involved in the architecture proposed by the project. For Italy, Italtel SpA, the Consorzio C.R.A.T. and Ericsson Telecomunicazioni SpA are also participating in the project.